May 18, 1994 (Wednesday): I was tired but wanted to visit Kaba again. When I reached there, it was a few minutes before Asr. The crowd was light. The sun was shining as always and it was a daring attempt on my part to challenge the heat and start a Tawaf.

The crowd was small enough that I reached the fourth wall and touched it. It gave me a good feeling.

There were people inclined against the wall and weeping.

I had perhaps made a circuit or two when the Asr Iqamah was pronounced. I stood in the second row (actually a circle) around the Kaba. Facing Kaba was no problem. It was right

there.

After the Salah, the security officers opened the gate of the semi-circular region of the Kaba, known as al-Hateem. It is part of the Kaba.

The people rushed to go in and offer Salah. I followed and went in. There was enough space when I was to make the intention of Salah, but by the time I finished my intention, there was no space in front of me to bow down and prostrate. There were women in front of me too. What am I supposed to do? I stood there in despair.

A South [East] Asian brother, perhaps an Indonesian was praying behind to the right of me. I gestured to him by the movements of my hands that when he finishes, [to give] me the space for me to pray.

That brother did four Rakas and then stood towards the front side and motioned [for] me to take his place and pray. I did only two Rakas in a short space. My prostrations were mixed with Allah's remembrance and a fear that someone may step on by neck.

I thanked the brother for his generosity and tried to get out. I wanted to stay but then I felt that I should let others come in.

I came out and finished the Tawaf while being very close to the walls of the Kaba and touching them a few times. I felt great when I went back and told others about [it]. This was the day before the Hajj. We were to put on Ihram for Hajj the next morning.

At night, we had a couple of guest speakers, the local Imam was one of them. He spoke on the significance of Kalima and repeated certain aspects of Bida from his previous speech.

The other person spoke on Hajj. Br. Shakeela (an Egyptian in our group) did the translation. We had our dinner [at] around 11:15, which was rather late for me.